Untitled Sermon (3)

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Am I the only one who enjoys symmetry? Think about it, is there anything more satisfying than when something lines up the way that it’s supposed to. Whether you are talking about assembling the furniture from IKEA, vacuuming the carpet in perfect lines, or having a perfect hair day; symmetry is something that most if not all of us can appreciate.

I think that one of the first items that revealed my love for symmetry is the first time I saw a perfectly manicured baseball field. Now you may not remember this since we are living in the days of COVID-19 and social distancing but there was a day when we would all gather at stadiums to watch major league baseball games. At these games the outfield and the grass on the outside of the foul lines would be mowed in perfectly symmetrical layer designs. It’s beautiful. So beautiful in fact that when I had a yard of my own I decided that I was going to replicate the perfection.

My wife and I had purchased a single wide trailer that was situated in a mobile home community (trailer park) on a lot that had a very large front yard attached to it. We were responsible for the yard maintenance of this property. So I bought a riding mower because we living in the 2000’s and one should only use a push mower if it is their choice. I was excited to mow my yard because as I said symmetry is something that I love. I googled how to get the perfect lines in the yard when you were mowing. I had a pattern that I was going to follow and my yard was going to be the talk of the trailer park.

I set out and began to mow…everything looked so good from the seat of my mower and I was riding in confidence knowing this was going to turn out perfect. I finally finished the yard after an hour or so but it was difficult to see the finished product from the middle of the yard so I anxiously ran up the stairs to the deck where I could get a full view of my work. When I stepped onto the deck I discovered squiggly lines, missed patches, and an all around shabby piece of work. I couldn’t understand what had happened. I had been so sure of my method while I was mowing but upon finishing the project it was nothing like I anticipated it would be. So I returned to the google to discover my error. What I found out was that the only way you can keep things straight is to pick a point at the end of your line and keep your eyes on it as you mow. Having that point of reference helps you maintain the right course as you complete your task.

If you don’t have a proper focus on the end, you will never maintain proper course throughout.

Over the last several weeks our church has been in a series entitled Refocus. This series has been an exploration of the words of Jesus and how they are applicable to our lives. In particular we have been discussing the Beattitudes. The purpose of these discussions has been retooling our approach as a church to become the church that God intended. We have made the discovery that we had unwillingly began to worship the way we worshiped Jesus more than worshiping Jesus. In other words, we had created idols out of our methodologies. COVID-19 provide a disruption to our regular scheduled programming that actually served to help us diagnose this issue and make some necessary adjustments to try and rectify the situation.

We made some changes to the way we do church. We made some changes to the things that we are prioritizing. We took steps to become the church God wants us to be and we are not the only church to have done so. I have seen numerous ministries across our country that have taken similar approaches. We have seen the church in large part shake from the lethargy that had come to characterize many of our congregations. This would seem to be a win and we could logically find ourselves resting easy in the fact that we are no longer held hostage by the same struggle but the truth just because we overcame one attack of the enemy doesn’t mean that he is done.

Satan isn’t stupid. When he saw that we had gotten past the apathy that we had come to know He immediately changed course. We went from unifying to get through a world pandemic to being at each others throats for everything imaginable from when to open, to racism, to whether or not we wore a mask. The enemy may have lost some effectiveness in the area of apathy but he launched a brand new ramped up onslaught by way of division. Our nation has never been more divided than it is right now. We are fighting bout everything. This isn’t exclusive to the secular world. We find ourselves caught up in endless debates and arguments within the church as well. But her is a truth that I don’t think we consider very often; division is a choice. The only way that division can exist is for two people with opposing opinions to decide that they are unwilling to compromise or come to a place of coexistence. Sure the issues we are facing are complex. In many cases they don’t have a clear cut solution or outcome but the only reason division prevails right now is because individuals are choosing to allow it to. The reason this is an important realization is because if division is a choice than so is unity. We are praying for unity especially within the church but unity will not come by some magical wave of the holy spirits wand…Unity is simply the result of individuals choosing to unite.

Because many of the issues that we are facing are issues that can only be resolved on the individual level I want to bring our focus down for this week from the birds eye view of becoming the church God wants us to be and spend this conversation exploring how to become the individual Christ followers that God intends for us to be. I fully believe that much fo the out of focus nature of the corporate body is a direct result of multitudes of out of focus individualities within the body.

So how do we become the individuals God wants us to be? What are the steps we can take to see that happen? Are we out of focus in the same way that a camera can be out of focus? Is it just a simple adjustment where in we can find a little more clarity, or are we out of focus in that we are looking at the wrong thing? I believe the answer to that is slightly different for all of us but in order for each of us to come to the proper conclusion I want to evaluate what it is that God has called us to focus on. In order to do that we are going to begin looking at a passage from Paul’s letter to the church at Colosse.

Colossians 3:2 (NLT)

2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.

We just talked about the fact that we are seeing an unprecedented level of division within the church and the world around us. The division that we see among ourselves as believers is a clear indication that our focus is on the wrong thing. If all of us walked in proper focus we would understand the insignificance of many of the things we are divided on. Here is the thing that division reveals to us. Division reveals passion. We divide over what we’re passionate about. Sometimes the things we passionately debate in favor of are worthy of our passion and sometimes they are not. But whether we’re talking about worthwhile debates or meaningless squabbles we only choose sides on things that we are passionate about.

This is why the passage we read is so significant. Paul tells us that we have been called to set our “affections” as the King James calls it and “minds” in other translations on things above. We are called to refocus our affections on the agenda of heaven. That means that while I have preferences and opinions…they are not hills that I should be willing to die on. The only thing that I should be passionate enough to divide on are things that are written in God’s Word and things that have eternal implications.

Paul understands how difficult this will be if you bypass the prerequisite laid out for following Jesus. Many of us have adopted a level of Chrisitanity that says “yes Jesus you can come in my heart and give me nice things.” You can forgive me of my wrongs and take away my guilt. The problem with this is that Jesus doesn’t offer to “clean up our life.” He offers to exchange ours for his.

Philippians 3:10 (NLT)

10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death,

In order to access the freedom of Christ and truly walk in a relationship with him…our old life has to end. You can’t experience the power of His resurrection until you have come into conformity with His death. It is with this in mind that Paul tells us to set our minds on the agenda of heaven and then reminds us that there is only one way that this can take place.

Colossians 3:3 (NLT)

3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.

Why does this matter? Why should we make this a point of consideration in 2020? Because I believe for a lot of us we need to do a dead check when it comes to our flesh? “How can we do that?” You ask. Well…here’s an easy one. Dead people don’t get offended. Dead people don’t have to prove how right they are. Our pastor spent an entire sermon several weeks ago talking about Christ’s call and promise of blessing to those who walk in meekness. This is a rare occurrence in 2020. Would my social media feed be considered meek? Would my conversation from day to day be considered meek? Unfortunately, many of us are living with a primary motivation to prove our rightness. We want people to affirm our stances because we draw a sense of self worth and value from them. But when my affections are on the agenda of heaven I am no longer doing what I can to prove my worth. I am doing what I can to reveal my insufficiency so that the grace of God can be more clearly seen. In short, when our focus is on the agenda of heaven, our motives look different on earth.

Our motives look different because they become less like us and more like Jesus. Why is that? Because when we set our minds on the agenda of heaven we begin to reflect the heart of the king of heaven. His mission statement was not complex. He did not get involved in very many political debates. HIs mission was two-fold…to seek and to save the lost. The reason Jesus had such a simple mission statement is because he knew that the solution to every problem is very simple. Salvation is the answer to every issue in our world today. What would solve the complex issue of racism and racial injustice? If everyone would get saved. What would eliminate bigotry and prejudice in our world? Salvation. In fact what’s going to do away with sickness and polluted air and all of the other issues that are a part of our world that are even outside of the control of humans? The new heaven and new earth which are simply the redeeming of the earth. Salvation is the solution to every problem in our world. That is why Jesus made it his mission to seek and to save the lost and that is why he has given the same task to us as his followers. We have been called to set our affections on the agenda of heaven which is the proclamation of the gospel to the entire world.

There’s one more thing I want us to take a look at in this message from Paul. He tells us to set our minds on the things of heaven but he doesn’t stop there. He follows that up with “and not on things of the earth.” If you’re like me and you have some little kids in your house, you understand that sometimes an instruction on what to do is not enough. There are times you have to include detailed instructions on what not to do. For instance, there are times I will task my eight year old or my six year old with taking their mothers phone to her from across the house. It’s a simple task. It’s a doable task. But inevitably I will walk through the house after having giving this objective to find them sitting on the couch, or in their bed, or on the floor…playing a game. So I have to change my approach. I don’t simply say take your phone to your mom…I say take the phone to your mom…don’t stop and play roblox. In order for them to accomplish the to do that I’ve given them…they need to be reminded of the to don’t that is necessary. This is because immaturity takes every possible opportunity to be distracted from a task. But I digress.

We are not only called to set our attention on the agenda of heaven but we are also warned not to be distracted by the agendas on earth. This is difficult because I don’t believe there has ever been an easier time to get distracted by earthly things. Between a world pandemic, racial tensions, a presidential election, the mask controversy, elite human trafficking rings, conspiracy theories, and the advent of social media to keep it all right in front of our noses twenty-four seven, there has never been an easier time to have our focus taken off of our objective.

Unfortunately we have a habit of addressing all of these objectives from an earthly focus. We center our focus in on fixing the social issues were interested in and set out to rectify it. We turn our attention onto the presidential election and share every article that we can possibly find to support our candidate and destroy the other. You can fill in the blank about how you go about fixing your earthly problem with an earthly focus but the truth is…none of these methods provide lasting results. You will never eternally effect the issues of the world with a focus on the issues of the world. Why is that? The Spirit of God told me this…You will only walk in the authority of what you’re focused on.

No one has ever made a more lasting eternal impact than Jesus. This is an obvious statement based on the fact that he purchased our eternal entry into heaven by his sacrifice on the cross. Before he went to the cross though there was one defining characteristic that people always took notice of in Jesus life…his authority. The disciples couldn’t believe the level of authority he walked in when he commanded the wind and the seas and they obeyed. The onlookers were amazed that even demonic spirits had to come under subjection to his commands. The religious scholars heard him teaching and said we’ve never heard anyone speak these words with such authority. Jesus walked in an unprecedented level of authority. But have you ever stopped to ask yourself why he walked in such authority on earth. The obvious answer is that He was the immaculately conceived son of God. But scripture tells us that he was tempted in all ways just like we are yet was without sin. This implies that he was fully human just as much as he was fully God. I believe that his authority was at least in some part effected by his focus. Jesus focus was never simply on the moment wherein he lived. Jesus focus was always rooted in an eternal perspective.

For instance. Four men bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus and they can’t get in the room because the crowd is too overwhelming. So they go on the roof and begin to tear the roof off and lower him down. This guy is very clearly paralyzed. It’s pretty obvious what their motives where for bringing him to Jesus. But Jesus didn’t address his earthly need….He addressed his eternal need. He looks at the man on the mat that just came through the ceiling and says your sins have been forgiven. His focus was on his eternal need not simply his earthly problem.

What about Lazarus…Jesus gets word that Lazarus is sick and about to die and he decides he’s gonna give it a few more days. When he finally does arrive Lazarus is already dead. Mary of course is heartbroken and probably a little bit ticked off at Jesus for not showing up on time. But Jesus tells here not to weep because she will see him again. HIs focus wasn’t on the temporal loss of Lazarus on the earth…his focus was on the fact that Lazarus was already in the eternal reality we are all heading towards.

In both of these cases Jesus took authority over earthly problems and saw them rectified. The paralyzed man walked out of the room he had been lowered into and Lazarus walked out of the tomb he had been buried in. But this authority came as the result of a heavenly focus not an earthly one. You will only walk in the authority of what you’re focused on.

For far too long the church has addressed the issues of the world while operating on the same perspective. We’ve done so in the name of relevance. But our world doesn’t need believers to be relevant…they need the believers to be full of God’s power. They need believers that can take authority over sickness and strongholds and demonic oppression and cast them out in the name of Jesus. This kind of authority is only available to those who have set their affects on things above and not on things of the earth.

Not only do we need to focus our affections on the agenda of heaven but we need to refocus aspirations on the prize of heaven. What I mean by that is that we need to allow an eternal perspective to reshape our goals. It’s become a pretty common thing in 2020 American Christianity to make the American dream and a life in the will of God somewhat interchangable. If I follow Jesus I’m going to have a nice house, a good job, a healthy family, and plenty of money in the bank. This narrative has been further proven recently as we have all considered what it might look like if Christian persecution were to somehow find its way to our shores. I’ve heard numerous people make statements such as “persecuation is come, our nation is about to be judged.” We line these things up in such a way as to say that persecution is judgment. To that I would ask is the Christian pastor in Pakistan who is imprisoned for sharing the gospel under judgment? Is the family who comforted their eight year old son who was being burned at the stake by saying it would be over soon and he would be in the presence of God in a short while, are they under judgment? Are the Christians who are being slaughtered daily in the middle east and other foreign countries are they under judgment? No, in fact Matthew chapter five tells us that they are blessed.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should desire to be persecuted. I’m not saying we should hope that we can be put in prison for the sake of the gospel or hope that our lives are snatched away for sharing the love of Jesus. But I am saying that a life that centers the reality of being blessed around the prosperity and abundance of earthly goods is a life that is missing the point. We often pull out the quote that Jesus gave when he said “I’ve come that you can have life and that more abundantly.” But the truth is that quote was given in the context of showing us that he is our shepherd in contrast to our enemy the thief. The shepherds job is to make sure we are nourished and cared for until we make it from point a to point b. The ultimate purpose of the shepherd is to lead the sheep home. Jesus ultimate goal for our life is not health, wealth, and happiness…it is heaven. Paul grasped this better than anyone. He knew that there was more to following Jesus than this life. In fact it was what he set his goals to be centered upon.

Philippians 3:14 (NLT)

14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Paul’s focus throughout his life was on reaching heaven. It was his motivation. It was his aspiration. One of the beautiful byproducts of a life who’s goals are centered on heaven is the fact that it removes entitlement. Paul has just spent a good portion of the previous passage explaining all of the reasons he deserves a lot in the world based on his religious and social merit. But then he says when I stack all that I am and have accomplished up against my actual goal…I consider my merit as dung. It’s trash. Paul was beaten, Paul was imprisoned, Paul was ultimately executed. But he never once lashed out at God and said…”I don’t deserve this.” This is because Paul’s focus was never on his circumstances. It was on where he was going.

Now I will insert here that there are many people who misinterpret what this means and they take the call to focus our lives on heaven to mean we should all build a compound in the woods gather enough food to last us for several decades and wait on death or the return of Jesus. But this wasn’t the philosophy Paul was calling us to. Because before revealing his life’s aspiration Paul inserted a phrase that said “I’m not perfected.” This simply means…I’m not done. Why can’t we simply hide away until Jesus comes…because we aren’t done. You are still alive because you still have a purpose. Paul’s focus was on making heaven but while he pursue that goal he planted churches across the world, he evangelized nations, he raised up leaders, and he wrote over two-thirds of the New Testament. Paul’s focus and pursuit of heaven presented him opportunities to walk iout his purpose. This is because a focus on the goal of heaven is the most Godly way to discover our purpose on earth.

Purpose is a big word around our church. Our mission statement is to connect people to their God-given purpose. But it is important that we understand that this “purpose” is bigger than singing a song on a stage. It’s larger than teaching a child in kids ministry. It’s bigger than greeting people when they come in the door. These are all parts of our purpose but they are not it’s entirety. I think many of us find ourselves becoming frustrated with the plan of God because we can’t seem to figure out what it is for our lives. I believe we often miss the will of God for our lives not because it’s not available but because we are looking for something that is far too small. We are looking for something to be attained in a lifetime and that is never how the will of God works.

All throughout scripture as God reveals his plan to men he does so in generational terms. When God approached Abraham he told him he would be the father of many nations. This was clearly not a lifetime prophecy. When God is referred to in reference to Abraham very rarely is it the God of Abraham. It is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus was referred to as the son of David…a fourteen generation gap. When The Holy Spirit shows up in the book of Acts Peter says this is the thing that Joel talked about hundreds of years prior. God’s plan is generaitonal. Herein lies the reason that many of us struggle to find the will of God for our lives. Because we are looking for a magic potion to help us find fulfillment in our lifetime because it will be accomplished in our lifetime. Living with the perspective that everything I am doing I am doing for eternity helps you find your purpose for your life because it constantly reminds you that your purpose is bigger than your life. Living with the goal of heaven shifts our prayers from that of God what’s your plan for my life? To that of God, how can you use my life for your plan?.

So in review; we have discovered that we can walk in power on earth by refocusing our affections on the priorities of heaven. We have discovered that we can walk in proper perspective by refocusing our aspirations on the prize of heaven. But lastly I want us to find comfort in refocusing our attention on the promise of heaven.

Like we’ve already discussed every single one of us is painfully aware of all of the things that are taking place in our world. The only thing we can’t find in our world right now is ceratinty. We don’t know what the future holds. But I think it’s interesting that none of this has taken Jesus by surprise and that is not an etherial statement. We can make that with certainty because Jesus gave a prophecy that reads a lot like the trending stories on you favorite news outlet.

Luke 21:25–26 (NLT)

25 “And there will be strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. 26 People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Obviously we’ve seen so many of these things happen in recent months and over the last year. But in Matthews account of the same prophecy I noticed something that I had never seen before that I believe is so fitting in the time we are living.

Matthew 24:10 (NLT)

10 And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other.

Jesus says that in the last days that he is prophecying about that many will turn away from him. There will be a falling away from the faith. But the manifestation of this falling away will not be exclusively a lack of love for God. Jesus gives a unique perspective on how this would manifest. Jesus said one sign of the last days would be when his people turn away from Him by hating each other.

A fancy religious word that we use for this is apostate…it means to depart from the faith or from the one who you claim to serve. Friend if you hate someone because of their skin color….it’s a sign of apostacy. If you hate someone because of their political stance…it’s apostasy. If you hate someone because they wear a mask or don’t wear a mask. Because their going to get a vaccine or because they don’t get a vaccine. Because they speak in tongues or because they don’t speak in tongues. Jesus said this was a manifestation indicating a turn away from Him.

No sooner did Jesus tell us that all of these things would come to pass than did he give us our objective when we see it start to happen. To my surprise his given objective was not to create a scathing social media post calling out those who hold a different belief than I do. He didn’t call me to cancel everything that I found to be evil. He didn’t tell us to do anything in response to the turmoil of these days except for one thing.

Luke 21:28 (NLT)

28 So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”

Jesus directive to us in the midst of turmoil is to turn our attention to HIs coming. This may not be a popular line of thinking or preaching in 2020, but friend you need to know that Jesus is coming. I believe that the rapture could take place at any moment. Nothing else has to happen before He comes back and this reality begs the question…are we ready?

For a long time we have approached the concept of Christ’ return with this weird Christian horror sub genre. Left Behind and series of the like hav garnered much popularity by focusing on the fearful aspect of living in the world after the return of Christ. But I don’t want to talk about the return of Christ today with the intention of scaring you. The purpose of speaking about His return is to bring us to a place of self evaluation and response. Do I know Jesus? Is my walk with Jesus where it needs to be? Am I 100% certain that should Christ return or should death come my way that I am ready for that moment?

Many misconceive this line of thinking to be me asking myself if I’ve been perfect as of late. Have I done enough good to pay the penance of the bad that I have previously done? But here is a freeing truth. Heaven was not created for good people. Jesus is not returning for good people. If heaven was for good people there would only be one person qualified to make heaven their home. Heaven is actually for sinful people who have accepted the free gift of new life offered in Christ. When Jesus returns, the ones who will be ready are no the ones who have been perfect but the ones who have been forgiven by putting their trust in him. Have you put your trust in him?

The church of Jesus Christ is in a season of refocusing but it is also time for the people of Jesus to refocus. We need to refocus our affections on the agenda of heaven because that is the only way to walk in the power and authority that God has made available to us. We need to refocus our aspirations on the prize of heaven because that is the only way to maintain a proper perspective in the midst of life’s trying circumstances. And we need to refocus our attention on the promise of heaven because Jesus is coming. All of the chaos and hurt and devastation of our world is not meant to garner our focus but rather to call us to look up and turn our attention to the coming of our Lord.

All of our conversation today has been pushing to this one truth. While there are many uncertainties in our world today there is one truth that remains unchanged and certain. We will all enter into eternity at some point. There are only two choices as to where we will spend that eternity. Heaven or hell. Heaven is not for good people and hell is not for bad people. Heaven is for those who have accepted Jesus and had their sins forgiven and hell is the choice of those who reject Him. As much as it would please Him to guarantee your eternity Jesus will not make the choice for you. Instead he made the ultimate sacrifice of His life so that you could inherit eternal life simply by trusting in Him. You have a choice.

Deuteronomy 30:19 (NLT)

19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

Will you choose life? Eternity is coming. This truth incites fear for many but there is a transformation available to us today that can turn our fear into an eager anticipation. Jesus has purchased our eternity by paying the price of his life. WIll we accept His gift?